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It\u2019s a strange time to be an Arsenal fan. The club feels very different. By the end of Arsene Wenger\u2019s time it became a chore to constantly argue over the manager\u2019s future. But the tedium of the end of Emery\u2019s time here comes from the football. It\u2019s not that the narrative isn\u2019t annoying. From the club portraying a destruction of its values as progress, to the coach praising his own competitive spirit, the club and fans picking out their favourite scapegoats, and even a few pro Emery holdouts among the fans. All of this is difficult to deal with. But it pales in significance when considering what we do out there on the football field.<\/p>\n
By a quirk of fate, Arsenal v Leicester is once again the biggest game of our season. Unlike 4 seasons ago, when it was a title showdown, this is more a top-4 scrap which finds Arsenal already reeling from body blow after body blow. Or are they self inflicted injuries?<\/p>\n
Arsenal once more proved incapable of holding onto a lead. No matter how late we score and how undeserved that might be. We play like a poorly coached lower midtable team now. Relying on set pieces to create chances, sitting back and hoping for a smash and grab, liable to allow a lot of shots even while trying to defend. This is no coincidence. That seems to be our coach\u2019s gameplan, and frankly, his level. I wonder if the people at the club have come to the same conclusion and reached a decision. It is a huge game for the football club, but the result ought to be irrelevant when it comes to Emery\u2019s future. The international break would give the club and the new appointment some time to get into the swing of things.<\/p>\n
Proverbial 6-pointer<\/strong><\/p>\n Speaking of swings, this game is a proverbial 6-pointer. Win and we go within 3 points of 3rd placed Leicester City. Lose and it\u2019s 9 points behind them, and potentially lower in the table than the likes of Sheffield Utd, Bournemouth, Brighton and Crystal Palace. More jarring even than the gap in points is the goal difference. 11 games into the season and Arsenal have a GD of +1, while the Foxes have a GD of +19. They\u2019ve scored 27 goals (Only ManCity have scored more) and conceded the least with 8 (tied with Sheffield Utd) They\u2019ve taken a 151 shots out of which Jamie Vardy has taken 22, 14 on target, and has 10 goals in the 11 games. For comparison, Arsenal have taken 142 shots, Auba has taken 31 of them, had 13 on target and scored 8 goals.Clealry Jamie Vardy is their danger man in great form and we\u2019d do well to keep him quiet throughout the game.<\/p>\n I must take the time to commend Brendan Rodgers for how he\u2019s got Leicester playing. I\u2019ll admit I turned up my nose at him when he was said to be in line for the Arsenal job. 16 months of Emery later, I\u2019d gladly take him. His time at Celtic did enhance his reputation, which seems like a strange thing to say, but some of the football they played was really good. (I was paying some attention because of Kolo Toure) We fans tend to be snobs about the quality of the league, and to an extent it is true. But good football is good football. He may have made some weird man management choices at Liverpool, and fell short even with the vampire in lethal form as striker, but he\u2019s a few notches above our own Count Emery as a coach.<\/p>\n Arsenal has a chance<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m not confident at all going into this game. But, and this is how you know when something\u2019s drastically wrong, I feel no butterflies in my stomach at the thought. My only vague hope is that it would be the most Arsenal of things to somehow end up winning the game. The players are clearly good enough. Also clearly, they are not performing, either for or under this coach. Maybe the new captain will step up and score a perfect hat-trick. I\u2019m not sure even that will be enough.<\/p>\n Midfield is the key, and not only do Leicester have a better balance there, our tactics tend to concede the midfield altogether. Besides, who knows what is happening with our personnel. Will Xhaka play following his removal as captain? Is Ozil now permanently back within the fold seeing as he didn\u2019t travel to Portugal in midweek? There were also some reports yesterday that Torreira isn\u2019t happy at how he\u2019s being used and might demand a move in January. Will he play?<\/p>\n I\u2019m not inclined to guess a starting XI. It almost doesn\u2019t matter under this coach\u2019s system. No matter who plays we tend to play poor, soul crushing football. For once, dear reader, I appeal to you to pick your starting XIs in the comments section. I\u2019m not up to the task of putting myself in Emery\u2019s headspace right now.<\/p>\n Prediction: Leicester win 3-1<\/p>\n Sorry. I wanted to say we\u2019ll win, but the pessimism won out. May the players prove me wrong.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s a strange time to be an Arsenal fan. The club feels very different. By the end of Arsene Wenger\u2019s time it became a chore to constantly argue over the manager\u2019s future. But the tedium of the end of Emery\u2019s time here comes from the football. 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